Quarter of Estonia's trade turnover from e-commerce

Last year, Estonia's e-commerce revenue grew by 18 percent year-on-year, reaching €5.4 billion and accounting for a quarter of total trade.
The head of the Estonian E-Commerce Association, Tõnu Väät, stated that e-commerce grows by 10-20 percent annually and is expected to account for 40-50 percent of total trade within the next decade.
In 2024, Estonians ordered 17 million parcels to parcel machines, an increase of 14 percent, or two million more packages than the previous year. On average, 1.4 million parcels were ordered per month, with a total value of €430 million.
In addition to parcel machines, courier deliveries account for approximately 15-18 percent of the total volume.
Based on recent statistics, 72 percent of parcels ordered by Estonian residents came from domestic sources, while 28 percent were cross-border shipments.
"Of the cross-border parcels, 80 percent originate from Asia, where the average parcel value is below €30. Moreover, this segment is growing faster than purchases from e-stores based solely on Estonian capital. Last year, Temu was the biggest advertiser in our region," Väät said.
Unisend, a company owned by Lithuania Post that entered the Estonian parcel machine market last year, has taken over approximately 60 percent of Temu's parcel volume this year. However, to gain a larger market share, it must also compete to secure Estonian customers.
The parcel machine market is led by Omniva, which holds a 45 percent share, followed by Smartpost with 27 percent and DPD with 26 percent. Venipak's market share is below 2 percent.
"Temu offers products from approximately 80,000 Asian manufacturers. However, the Ministry of Climate and the European Commission have pointed out that around 34,000 of these sellers do not comply with product safety and producer responsibility regulations enforced in Europe. Consumers should be aware and carefully consider what and from where they order, as abnormally low prices often have an underlying reason," Väät explained.
According to Väät, consumers primarily order smaller items from Asia, such as phone cases and small electronics, but there is an increasing trend of ordering clothing and larger electronic devices as well.
The Estonian E-Commerce Association monitors parcel volumes in collaboration with Omniva, DPD, Smartpost and Venipak. Revenue statistics are compiled in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications and the Bank of Estonia.
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Editor: Barbara Oja, Marcus Turovski